Foxtrot

I've been trying to get a post or two up.  But things just keep getting in the way....
Took my vehicle in for routine maintenance and then that night the check engine light came on. Took it back and they cleared the code (it was something to do with the gas cap).  And the very next day the stupid light came back on.  Took it in and they kept it, it was the O2 sensor (??)  I appreciate that they gave me a loaner but wow did I NOT like that car!!  My vehicle isn't a 'luxury' automobile but its a lot nicer, and roomier, than the plain jane bottom of the rung car that I was stuck with.  I also missed my winter tires.

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The remote for the garage door opener that was put in didn't work.  When I tried to program it (after reading the instructions) it went on the fritz and the wall button wouldn't work either.  The only way it would open or close was if you pushed the button right on the unit (on the ceiling)  Got that figured out and fixed but it was a bit of a pita until I got a chance to do it, for awhile it was just too darn cold to mess around out in the garage.

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The pellet stove was on the fritz.  My stepdad came and checked the chimney and cleaned the stove.  Still didn't work.  Thank goodness it turned out to just be the sensor, but the stove was down during the wicked cold snap we had.

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The quad was broke, stuck in the middle of the yard like a lump.  Thankfully the quad and stove were fixed by my awesome stepdad.

Then we had VIP visitors to 'the ranch'  My auntie M and uncle R were visiting all the way from New Brunswick!  Ok so yeah, that's not a foxtrot moment at all, but it did keep me busy for the day :) 

Yesterday was my day off.  All I had planned was to do laundry and housework, and catch up on blogging.  And then the $h!t hit the... well not fan.  But it was literally a $h!tty day.  The pump in our septic tank quit. :(

So there I was, home alone with 'water' overflowing in the basement toilet, shower and floor drain in the laundry room.  I wasn't sure at first it was the septic, but I kinda thought it was.  After calling our neighbour TP (who is also our hay guy) it was confirmed that there was something wrong with the septic.

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I checked the pumpout and it looked like it had pumped recently.  I couldn't get the cover off the actual septic tank itself though.

TP had just had surgery so he couldn't do any lifting/bending so I tried my stepdad, he was ice fishing, and some friends, no luck.  TP called to say he could come over and check things out and 'supervise' the repairs. 

While I waited for TP and his wife LP to come over I bailed and mopped up water and emptied 3 mop pails full of water from the basement.

LP & I used a pry bar to get the cover off the tank, it was frozen shut.  Then we lowered a pump into the tank and started pumping the overflow.  Once it was pumped I went inside to see if it was still coming in.  Thankfully it wasn't and the little bit I hadn't got cleaned up in the laundry room was drained back down the hole.

TP confirmed that the pumpout wasn't frozen and instructed me as I removed the old pump from the septic tank and rigged in the new pump (ewwww - thank goodness for gloves!!)

After all that I had to bleach the floor in the basement (yay for cement floors) and wash all the laundry that got wet.  I had unfortunately been on the ball and had it pre-sorted and sitting on the floor ready for laundry day.